Quick, easy granola bars.
To keep these bars soft, reduce baking time to about 8 to 10 min. 15 is too much. Remember if you are adding additional dry ingredients to substitute them for oats. There should be 2 cups dry ingredients total. If you add more dry(seeds, nuts, etc) you must also increase the wet (honey, pb).
Read MoreIt came out a crumbly mess, couldn't cut them. Tastes great, though and I'll use it to sprinkle on yogurt. I'll try again after I brush off my ego. This time I'll follow the recipe exactly, and if it comes out better I'll up my rating!
Read MoreTo keep these bars soft, reduce baking time to about 8 to 10 min. 15 is too much. Remember if you are adding additional dry ingredients to substitute them for oats. There should be 2 cups dry ingredients total. If you add more dry(seeds, nuts, etc) you must also increase the wet (honey, pb).
My 4-star rating is based solely on taste, they are yummy (and easy to make). However, at 15 minutes in the oven, they ended up "crunchy" and dried out. I followed the recipe except for adding a few mini chocolate chips and some chopped peanuts. I will make these again, but I'll check them at about 7 minutes, as I know they'll dry out/solidify once they're removed from the oven and cool. What I'm looking for is a granola bar that is somewhat soft, but doesn't fall apart or crumble, and I think that means less time in the oven. Nice recipe Naomi, thanks for sharing.
I was low on granola bars and too lazy to go to the store, so I searched and found this recipe. I have made it twice in the last week, and it came out great both times. The first time, I had no honey, so I used molasses, which was a strong flavor, but tasty. The second time, I used honey, 1T. creamy PB and 1T. chunky PB, and we liked them even better for the little added crunch of the nuts. My hubs prefers his granola bars crunchy, so I pressed them very well, then baked each batch for 15-16 minutes. I STRONGLY SUGGEST if you bake them to be crunchy, you cut these bars fresh out of the oven. They will be sticky, and I had to kind of press the bars back down along either side of the cut lines before leaving them to cool, but after cooling, they kind of just snapped apart in the pan, but THEY STAYED INTACT IN THEIR BAR SHAPE. I cannot imagine how one could cut them into nice bar shapes if one waited for them to cool completely into crunchy bars, but after cutting while warm, it was easy. As an added bonus, i just added any of the little bits that fell off into our cereal container, so there was no waste. Love this recipe, and the hubs was impressed at how "professional" they looked. I was impressed that now I can make granola bars that are preservative-free. Thanks for sharing.
Great basic granola bar recipe. Tasty and easy. Came right out of the (greased) pan. I cut it twice - once while still slightly warm, then I went over the lines again after it had cooled completely. Worked for me. Next time I may try adding cinnamon and raisins.
It came out a crumbly mess, couldn't cut them. Tastes great, though and I'll use it to sprinkle on yogurt. I'll try again after I brush off my ego. This time I'll follow the recipe exactly, and if it comes out better I'll up my rating!
Super easy to make. I added some mini chocolate chips and flax seeds - really good!
I used a couple of the reviewers suggestions for adding this and that. I too added 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, some sunflower seeds, finely chopped pecans, and some ground flax meal. I didn't know I had cranberries, but I'll make this again and add all those things plus the cranberries and some cinnamon. This is the second time I've made this recipe and followed the original recipe the first time. It was good, but I wanted to add more "texture" to it, thus the changes. I agree with the one reviewer who mentioned that this is a good basic recipe for granola. I've rated it 5 stars because the recipe was really good.
I didn't have peanut butter and instead used Nutella. They came out pretty good. I like that these are chewy and not crispy granola bars.
Doubled the recipe and added Cacao nibs, 1 cup walnuts as well as 2 scoops powdered protein. Added an extra 1/2 C. Almond butter....put in 13x9 baking dish...AMAZING!!!
Though I followed recipe to the T, it didn't come out like a bar. It's too crumbly and oats tasted quite raw.Dont know what went wrong.. I'll try it again as I'm regular visitor to this website and have successfully made new things !!
I substituted the shredded coconut with chocolate chips and I've done it with dried fruit. Best granola recipe I've tried yet.
I used a couple of the reviewers suggestions for adding this and that. I too added 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, some sunflower seeds, finely chopped pecans, and some ground flax meal. I didn't know I had cranberries, but I'll make this again and add all those things plus the cranberries and some cinnamon. This is the second time I've made this recipe and followed the original recipe the first time. It was good, but I wanted to add more "texture" to it, thus the changes. I agree with the one reviewer who mentioned that this is a good basic recipe for granola. I've rated it 5 stars because the recipe was really good.
These were okay but I don't think I'd go through the trouble of making them again. I had to do more of the peanut butter/ honey mixture to try to get them to stay together and they still came out as crumbles. Tasted okay but I also had added chocolate chips and as I said, more of the pb mixture. Thanks!
I microwaved the honey, peanut butter, vanilla mixture for about a minute and it did the trick (while the coconut and oats were toasting- 10 minutes is accurate for coconut, oats could use a little longer). After combining all the ingredients I added 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips, then baked 10 minutes. They were undercooked and goopy to the point I couldn't take it out of the pan, but after cooling it hardened and stuck together (I was aiming for chewy). I reshaped the bars after cutting, wrapped them individually in wax paper, then stuck them in the fridge. I didn't really follow the instructions of the recipe, but I give it 5 stars for balance, simple everyday ingredients, and ease of cooking. Not too much peanut butter, not a strong honey taste, just a good chewy oat bar! My picky 4yo keeps asking me to make more- next time I'll double the batch and keep everything the same!! Thanks for the recipe! Might also be good with 1/4 cup cherry Craisins if you're looking for an extra something.
I upped the peanut butter to 1/2 cup, added 1 C puffed rice cereal and 1 cup chocolate chips. I followed the advice of others and baked for only 10 minutes. They turned out great!
Followed the recipe but must have done something wrong. Came out very hard and just didn't have good flavor.
Amazing!!!! I made a few changes. First change, I replaced half of the honey with maple syrup. 2nd change, I replaced half of the coconut with butter scotch chips and I subbed the PB for cashew butter. I baked for 10mins. A few of the bars did crumble... I should have waited a bit longer for them to set, but that is ok...I'll sprinkle them over yogurt!
These are so good....I added ground flaxseed, chopped walnuts and pecans and dried cranberries....delicious!!!!!
I used 1/4 cup honey and 1/2 cup peanut butter and also added about 1/4 cup of sunflower seeds. The adjustments were worth it if you like peanut butter granola bars.
Used a lot of others reviews to make these the first time. Baked for 12 minutes. Chewy! Added craisins, white chocolate chips and almonds. Will make them again and bake to crunchy.
Loved this - made it with dried cranberries and added sea salt for extra flavor! Made a half recipe in a loaf pan - it was the perfect size to cut into small bars. Thank you Naomi for this idea for a super easy and healthy snack!
As written, these are just too sweet for our taste. I like the concept, but will try cutting some of the honey with maple syrup and a little oil to scale the sweetness down. I baked for 10 minutes and they were a little too soft, but as I mentioned that was using a bar mold and they were fairly thick...scaling down to 8 and baking for 10 minutes should work out fine next time.
I am a granola nut and have always wanted to make my own bars. I decided to make different two batches and add extra ingredients. One batch had everything listed, but I added some things I had on hand, i.e. crushed up pretzels, chopped walnuts that I put into a baggie and smashed a bit smaller, and mini semi-sweet chocolate chips. I later realized that I should have increased the honey mixture since I increased the dry ingredients. The bars did not stick together. This batch was really good though...except I won't put the coconut in the oven with the oats @ the beginning. It didn't taste very good later. The other batch had all ingredients except peanut butter, and I added chopped up Brazil nuts, raisins, and some orange zest to the honey mixture. Since I'd already precooked the oats and coconut for both batches, I had the same problem again with this batch. Other than that, these bars were amazing! I would have given five stars if the recipe hadn't told me to brown the coconut. The brown pieces gave the bars a strange taste in certain areas...and I'm a coconut fanatic! This recipe is super easy and a perfect base for adding more ingredients and truly making your own creation from it. Thanks!
I added a half cup of chia seeds with the oats & coconut, and it worked wonderfully!
Very good! After spreading it in the pan I sprinkled some cinnamon over the top, makes it a bit more spiced. The only problem is that it is crumbley, I don't know if I did something wrong. Otherwise, great!
These were great! I cooked them 9 min. as suggested in other reviews, but otherwise followed exactly. Very chewy but held together well, and I loved the flavor. The second time I made them, I added about 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds, 1 tbsp cinnamon, and left out the vanilla extract (just because I was out) and they were still amazing. I think you could tweak these with any ingredients that you wanted to.
I made this recipe as is except that I used quick oats and reduced fat creamy peanut butter. I was not sure about the outcome and I am very satisfied with this recipe. I sliced it into 12 bars while it was still warm. As it cooled off, it started to harden and be more similar to the store granola bar. I will definitely make this again and will be definitely more watchful of the baking time to achieve different textures. All in all, will make this again! Thanks for sharing it!
Doubled the recipe. Used 1/2 honey 1/2 agave nectar. Used crunchy peanut butter. Added almonds (partially chopped) and dried cranberries. Had to brown oats and coconut for double the time because I used more than original recipe. Baked for suggested 15 minutes but came out a little crunchier than I would have liked.
Added 1/2 c raisins, 1/4 c chopped pecans, and 1/4 c chopped, dried cherries. Also used 1/2 organic agave sweetener : 1/2 honey in place of all honey.
Yummy! I under baked it and was still crumbly but taste was delicious and blows and gornola iv ever eaten away. I added some chocolate chips that ended up melting . I nixed the coconut also. Over all flavor was on point!
I will definitely make this again! Super yummy, kind of crumbly for me. Easy to adapt to my preferences.
Easy quick and I love that you can make them crunchy or chewy. I left mine in for 12 minutes. So will let them cool and cut them before finding out how they turned out!
These are so yummy and really easy to make! I suggest cutting them into pieces before they cool completely though because I feel like I have to saw them apart XD But other than that, I'd definitely make them again!
Loved this recipe as a base, although I changed it up a lot. Added tahini instead of peanut butter, increased quantities of shredded coconut to 1 c, increased nuts (used cashews) to 1 c., added maple syrup, tahini, date paste, rose water, vanilla, and honey to the liquid heat step.
Great taste, didn't hold together great since I added ground flax, walnuts, dried cherries and chocolate chips. Might try adding 1T. Coconut oil to the PB/honey mix or increase liquid. Yum!
I made this with my mom and it was excellent. I recommend you make this with the family.
These crumbled apart even baking for just 10 mins. I did change the honey to maple syrup as I was sharing with a baby under 1 yrs old. I am going to try and tweek this to work because the flavor is great its just very dry. I'm gonna try to add some mashed banana next time to see if it helps or maybe softening some of the oats first. I would suggest making some adjustments to the recipe before trying them.
Not a fan of coconut so I replaced it with some flaxseed. I put it in the oven for the total time so it came out crunchier than I liked but i'm glad that can be adjusted. Turned out very well overall. Really tasty and simple.
I made these and added a little extra honey and peanut butter to see if it would help hold it together. It held together pretty well, but it was a bit crumbly. I also added some prunes and pumpkin seeds. It was extremely sweet and I didn't add a ton of extra honey. In the end it kind of tasted like peanut butter cookies, but they were pretty good. I cut the baking time down as well.
As others have stated: This is a good basic recipe which can be made much better with a few changes. I used about 3/4 cup of honey and 3 tbsp peanut butter. I added a handful of coarsely chopped pecans which I put on the baking sheet with the oats & coconut, about 20 chocolate chips and 1/2 tsp cinnamon. I pressed half the oatmeal mix in the baking dish, sprinkled the choc chips and then pressed the remainder of the oatmeal mix on top. I baked them for TEN minutes as suggested, and that seemed to be perfect. I'm thinking those that ended up with granola might want to refrigerate the baked bars after they cool. Mine were crumbly, too, until I did this. After refrigeration, they were easy to cut into bars....no more crumbles. Also, pressing them into the baking dish might have helped. I love these and will def make them again!
These were great. I followed the recipe as it was written, except cooked 10 minutes. Next time I'll add chocolate chips or raisins. Yum!
Flavor was good, there wasn't enough honey for mine. It was dry and crumbled, didn't make bars. Fiance was impressed though.
Came out really good...I made a few additions to it by adding a cup full of walnuts, almonds and dates, and a teaspoon of cinnamon
When I saw this recipe I had to make it immediately. It had no coconut so increased the amount of oats. I also added chocolate chips just before baking, which gave it a marbled look. The result was delicious and will definitely bake it again.
These are really yummy! I finally found a great granola bar recipe!! I added 1/2 a cup of sliced almonds and 1/3 a cup of chocolate chips! 15 minutes was the perfect time.... Not too crunchy!!
Added 1/2 cup milk to make it stickier. Baked 15 minutes, sticks pretty well but still tastes a bit dry though
Quick, easy, and taste great. This is faster than making cookies and way healthier.
I really like the taste of these granola bars. I read other reviews and I'm still tweaking the cooking time, because I like chewy bars. With that said if you want a crumble to go on ice cream or in yogurt yummy added crunch cook the full 15 minutes. I recommend this recipe.
I made two batches of this at once. In one, I added half a cup of sweetened dried cranberries. In the other, I left out the coconut and added half a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips, as well as about a quarter cup of almond meal and a quarter cup of ground flax seed. (Unfortunately, most of the chocolate chips melted when I poured in the hot ingredients, though the results were still tasty. Maybe next time I'll try freezing them first and see if that helps.) I left the salt out of both kinds and didn't miss it. I also used only about half the honey (on the advice of another reviewer) and made up the difference with more peanut butter, since I don't like my snacks too sweet. Both batches turned out delicious! I would definitely recommend taking them out of the oven a few minutes earlier than the recipe calls for and slicing them right away before they harden. I'll enjoy experimenting with other flavors and add-ins when I make these again.
There tasted very good, much better than any store bought ones. They were crumbly, but will make again.
This recipe is great!! I wanted chewy bars so i cooked them for 7 minutes instead of 15! They taste great!!
I love this recipe! My only reason for 4 stars is that the granola bars really fell apart when I tried to cut them into shape. They just crumbled everywhere. They are delicious though! I am making them for a 2nd time right now and I added more peanut butter this time. Thanks for the great recipe!!!
my bars never got hard enough to cut they just crumbled can anyone tell me what went wrong
Very good recipe. Though they were tasty, they were very crumbley.
Perfect. I added sunflower seeds, flaxseeds, raisins and chocolate chips. It was a winner in our house! Don't cook it for 15 minutes unless you want it crisp.
Didn't stay together at all. Also not enough ingredients to use as granola for yogurt/cereal. Now I just have a lot of toasted oatmeal.
Wow. I'm eating some now and it is super, duper delicious. I baked it for just about 9 minutes and it's wonderfully chewy.
Its Delicious the only changes I would make is add cranberries and it is delicious thatIs what I had in because IDelicious and I bought it for sons soccer team
The coconut in the back of my pan was burned at 10 min, so I need to toast less and probably turn my tray. Otherwise, these were great. I added 1 tbsp of chia seeds in place of a bit of oatmeal.
These turned out great. I took the advice in the comments and only baked them for 8 minutes, did a first cut while they were still warm, then finished cutting and removing individual bars when they were cool. They were pleasantly chewy and held together really well! (I was also short of honey so I subbed in corn syrup to top it up -- not particularly healthy but my husband has the metabolism of a cheetah so no biggie this time around.) I'm making them again today and will use all honey and add some cranberries and almonds. Great recipe!
Good basic granola bar recipe. Very easy, and I had all the ingredients on hand. I baked them for 12 minutes, and scored them right out of the oven and cut them when cooled. A bit crumbly, but satisfying. No photo, they didn't last long.
Turned out to be crumbles of granola not bars. It could be because I added 3 table spoons of caramelized sugar instead of 1/2 cup maple syrup. I didn’t know the maple syrup is wat I need to make it stick. Just watching my calorie intake . The crumbles did turn out delicious . I added some dried cranberries . Nice to eat with cold cereal or yogurt as a healthy dazzle
I was going to make this but I am wondering if there us a mistake in the revipe? The picture shows miniature chocolate chips falling off the bar and some in the background but it isn't listed with the directions. I think if there are variations to the recipe it should be said on the bottom of the directions under Variations:
Yum! I melted 1 TBSP of Cacao Powder and 4 Cacao Butter wafers to the PB and honey mixture. I baked it in a banana bread pan so the squares were thicker than the original suggestion. I found 15 minutes in the oven was perfect. Extremely versatile recipe :)
This was a fantastic base recipe. I wanted to find something that would get me as close as possible to the Sunbelt brand chewy chocolate chip granola bars, as they have just that hint of coconut and are perfectly crispy-chewy. To get me there, though, I needed to make a few tweaks... First of all, I substituted the peanut butter for 2-3 tablespoons of salted butter. (As a chef of 13 years, I have learned that there is never a reason to use unsalted butter. The little bit of salt accentuates any flavor that much more, without making anything too salty. When it cools it really helps bind, and helps moisten, so the bars don’t become as dry and crumbly as peanut butter *can* sometimes become. More importantly than that, unlike peanut butter, the butter did not overpower the delicately sweet, malty flavor of the granola, and I was able to taste the honey as well. For me, peanut butter tends to overpower those subtle flavors that I love. Next, I substituted 2/3 cup of oats with (off brand) rice crispies cereal. This was such a delightful texture game-changer, and even made them easier to slice into than when I’ve made granola with just oats or similar grains. I baked for only 10 minutes, because as the recipe says, closer to 15 and you’re getting a harder, crunchier bar. I like mine chewy. Since I am a backpacker and wanted additional protein and calories that I was missing without the peanut butter, I added a bunch of yummy seeds as well... Chia and flax,
Omg, so good. I subbed in half a cup of slivered almonds using 1.5 c of oats and the half c of coconut. Total dry ingredients of 2.5 c. Cooked in my toaster oven for 10 minutes and cooled before cutting. Perfect. Now I just have to avoid eating them all tonight!
